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ZSheets-Shetl.

R. EICKEMEYER. MACHINES FOR CLEANING HAT BODIES. 0,182,181.

nted. Sept. 12, 1876.

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bin/63668: $225M- N PETERS, FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASMXNETON. D. D,

2 Sheets-Sheet Z.

R.- EICKEMEYER. MACHINES FOR CLEANING HAT BODIES. No. 182,181.

Patented. Sept.1Z, 1876.

[WI/6 1 060 r r Wbfiwesses:

N.YPETERS, PHOTO-LITNDGRAPNEIL WASHINGTON. D1}.

embodying the several features thereof.

UNITED STATES I ()rrron.

RUDOLF EIoKEMnvnR, or YONKERS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT m MACHINES FOR CLEANING tHA -BobrEs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent NoZISQJ 81 dated September 1876; app1ication tiled May 31, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RU LF .E GKEMEY R, of. Yonkers, inthe county of Westchester and State of New ,York, have invented a certain new andnsef ul Machine for Cleaning Hat- -Bodies and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming ,a part of the same, is a clear,trn e, and complete description. of my invention, and of machines In the manufacture of softhats, after the bodies havebeen subjected to the .ponncing operation, it is essential that the particles of 1 dust and furor wool which remainon the hatbodies,or are partially embedded in "thefelt, should be thoroughly removed and the surfaces made clean'andbright, for otherwise it would be impracticable to subsequently attain a desirablesurface-finish. This operation is variously designated, but is nsuallycalled dusting or cleaning, vand,-soffar as :my knowledgeextends, this service has either been performed by the aid of brushes orbrush ing-machines operating upon one hat-body at a time, 0r,'in extreme cases, by beating the hats singlywith a. stick by. hand. This latter 'method'is. preferable, sofar as results areconcorned, but, is obviously laborious and expensive. In some cases it is difficult, even with the use of such sticks, to produce results wholly satisfactory. The object of my invention is to perform this service rapidly, eflfectually, and economi- "cally. I practically accomplish these ends by lmeans of a novel machine embodying a suitable inclosing structure, a bed on which the hat-bodies are deposited in considerable numbers, a series of whipping-heaters, which [strike the bodiesand keep them in motion,

and an apparatusfor inducing currents oftair through the machiuaso that the dust and .detached fiber will be promptlyand COUtlllllOllS- '1 y removed during the beating operation; and .myinventio l Qnsists in various peculiar combinations and arrangement of themechanism- "referred to, andin the peculiarconstruction of {portions thereof, as will be hereafter fully idescribed.

l T me er i wlarl a e c my v nt I will refer to the accompanyingdrawings,

which Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents,'in longitudinal central vertical section, a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents the central section and in .top view,.respectively, a machine differing in constrnction'from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but embodying the principles of v my invention.

Referring toFigs.,1 and 2, A denotes the casing of my machine. It is box-like in form having closed sides, ends, and" top, with the exception of an aperture at thefront end, as at a,,for, the entrance ,of air. Twohinged 'covers,las at b and ,c,.are provided, the former "affording access. to aportion of the operative mechanism for the purposes of'loiling a'nd cleaning, and the latter-closes an aperture through which the hat-bodies are put intoland taken from thefmachine.

At each side of the front end, near, the bot- .tom, as at d, is a passage which communicates with the center'of afan-chamber, B, contain,- ing the revolving fan Qrwhereby air is drawn into the machine through aperture a, and from the machine into thei'an chamber,.and thence discharged into a pipe or fine, as at e, as indicated in the drawings by arrows. D denotes the interior surface of the chamber or receptacle, which serves as a bed, on

which the hat-bodies am deposited. It is es- :sential thatfthe bed he skeletonized, to that extent, at least, as will permit the drafts offair induced by the-fan to freely pass from theinduction-aperture a to thefan-chamber through thefbed,and to' carry oif the dust andloose fibers. I prefer to have the bed composed of a series of bent bars or plateslof metal, or of wood, as atlh, arranged after the niannerofa "InFig. l, the bed, in a longitudinal section,

' has a surface-line resembling somewhat that f of a fulling-mill'bed. It iscnrved quite reg ularly on the bottom, but. atits, front endit is curved upward. and inward, as at f, so that a e s ;-l e e ee rh f er eeliete me of which two sheets are presented, and in with thefront portion of the bed, will be caused to rise and to fall backward upon the lower portion of the bed again.-

' E denotes the main shaft of the machine, .to which power is applied, and from which the fan is preferably driven,as shown in the drawings. The main shafthas a tight and a loose pulley, and is prot'ided with cams or tappets, as at 9, 'all having the same form and having working surfaces on their edges. These cams may be set spirally on the main shaft, or in any other desired order with relation to each when the bed is constructed in the form of a grate, as shown, in order to prevent a hatbody from getting between the end of a heater E and -the bed. Each heater is housed at its -but't in a metallic socket, as at z. This socket is provided with a'lateral hub at its rear, and an arm or lever, as at k, which projects rearward from and at right angles to the axial line of the hub. All of the heaters are mounted by meansv of their hubs side by side on a fulcrum-shaft, l, which extends across the machine, and has supports in the sides thereof. The upper rear sides of the sockets 11 are faced off so as to afford a proper surface for the cams to engage with. 1 V

' Each beater is provided with a spring, as at m, which incloses a spring-rod, n, attached to the lever 10 of the beater, as at 0. The springrods extend through the rear end of the easing, as shown in Fig. 2, and the springs may 'abut against the casing, or against plates between them and the casing. Each spring-rod at its outer end has a washer next its spring and two nuts, one of which serves to adjust 'the' force of the spring, and the otherserves as a. jam-nut for securing the first nut in position. ,As shown in the drawings,'rubber springs maybe employed, although spiral-or other metal springs may be used.

' G denotes a cross-oar, located at the rear of and slightly below thefulcrumshaft l, and so 'set with'relation to the lever 70 that its upper surface serves as a check or stop to the beat- .e'rs when released by the cams and vibrated .bythe springs.

' of the heaters are being in like manner cari'ried backward. Each cam is so formed that fits toe atpigradually engages with the-face of a socket, and, as the shaft revolves, the swell of the cam smoothly carries the beater backward, and the abrupt termination at the heel of the cam permits the heater to promptly respond. to the strain of its spring for effecting the striking movement.

It will be seen that between the front inner surface of the chamber and the whippingbeaters there is a space for the reception of the hat-bodies, and that the loose mass of bodies will be supported partially by the surface of the chamber and partially by the beaters, so that the upward blows from the be continuously changing position. The fan draws the air, charged with dust and fiber, from the machine, and discharges it at any convenient point. The air is continuously rushing inward from the aperture in front of the machine through and over the bodies until they have been sufficiently well beaten.

The upper aperture at a. is so located with reference to the front portion of the chamber and the heaters that the strong inward current of air passing through it will strike the upper hat-bodies of the loose mass and throw them backward and downward upon the beaters, and, therefore, the inward current of air performs a valuable service in securing the desired movement .of the hat-bodies while being operated upon in the machine. I In order to get a good effect from the blow of the vibrating beater," there should be a prompt recoil after each blow and this is effected by connecting the spring-rod n with the lever 70, as at o, in such a manner that the spring has no control over the beater when its lower'end is thrown fully forward, so that by the force of the spring the beater makes the last portion of its forward movement after the spring has ceased to draw, and, therefore,

the beater promptly recoils, being limited therein by contact of its lever or arm with the upper surface of the cross-bar Gr.

While the spring-beater is'deemed by me preferable to any other form, I am aware that approximately-similar results may be attained 'with revolvingarms, set radially in a continuously-revolving shaft. Such a machine is shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

It will be seen that the casin g is somewhat different in form from that already described, but is provided with the hinged cover, airaperture, fan-chamber, and passages, as before described. The bed D isnot of the same form as in Fig. 1, but is skeletonized, and

composed of bars, as before described. It has no rearward curve at its front, as thatconstruction is not required with the revolving heaters. The whippingbeaters F are radially mounted on the main shaft E,-have ends which are curved in the direction opposite to that in which they move, and project downward through the spaces between the bars of the bed. I

In this machine the bodies are beaten or whipped, and continuously thrown upward against the cover and easing adjacent thereto, and the currents of air are employed as before.

In both machines the bodies will be constantly changing their positions with relation to each other and to the whipping-heaters.

I am well aware that in carpet-beating machines, as heretofore constructed, inclosed chambers have been employed, in combination with beaters, both revolving and vibrating, for delivering blows upon a carpet and removing dust and dirt therefrom also, that in some of such machines fanning apparatus has been employed for removing dust from the chamhers; also, that tightly-stretched ropes or hands have been employed in the same connection for affording a fiat support for a carpet while being beaten; and that various other devices have been used which perform the functions of beds for flatly maintaining the carpet in proper position to receive blows from the heaters. It will be seen, however, that a machine in which the heaters deliver their blows in lines parallel with the flat surface of a bed, as in all carpet-beating machines, would be practically worthless for cleaning hat-bodies, because the heaters would not cause the bodies to be constantly changing positions, but would simply mat them flatly upon the bed. In my machine, whether the revolving or the vibrating whipping heaters are employed, the blows are not delivered in a line parallel with any bed, but they are de livered upward, moving from the bottom of the receptacle, and the heaters strike against the bottom of the loose mass of hats, and, therefore, cause them to be continuously changing position, so that it is hardly probable, even if the chambers were well filled, that the same hatbody would receive more than two or three consecutive blows from the same beater. Moreover, the force of the blows from the heaters is communicated more or less to all the hats in the loose mass, because the bodies are supported partially by the heaters. When a small number of bodies are being operated upon, a large proportion of them will be either flying upward or falling downward, and the remainder will momentarily be resting either upon the heaters or on the supporting-surface of the chamber. The outgoing currents in my apparatus remove the dust and loose fiber from the chamber, as in carpetbeating machines; but the ingoing current in those machines has no service to perform while in my apparatus it performs a special and valuable service. The hat bodies are piled up against the front inner surface of the chamber through the action of the heaters, and the powerful inward current of air through aperture a displaces the upper bodies of the pile, throws them backward and downward upon the heaters, and thus assists materially in securing a proper movement of the bodies during the beating operation.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by these Letters Patent 1. In a hat-cleaning machine, the closed receptacle or chamber, and the series of whipping-beaters, in combination and arranged with relation to each other for affording a space for receiving the hat-bodies in mass, substantially as-described, whereby the mass of bodies are supported partially by the heaters and partially by the interior surface of the chamber, are beaten by the upward blows of the heaters, and kept in motion, as set forth.

2. In a hat-cleaning machine, the combination, with an inclosed chamber having a skeletonized bed, an airinduction aperture in the upper front portion of the chamber, above the bed, and air-eduction apertures below the bed, of an apparatus for inducing currents of air, and the whipping-beaters, substantially as described, whereby the incoming current of air throws the upper hathodies backward and downward upon the heaters and the outgoing current removes the dust and loose fiber from the chamber, as set forth.

3. In a hat-cleaning machine,the combination, with the inclosing-chamber and the skeletonized curved bed, of the whipping-beaters, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a curved bed, composed of bars, of a series of whippingbeaters, axially mounted and extended through the spaces between the bars of the bed, substantially as described.

5. In a hat-cleaning machine, the vibrating whipping-beaters, in combination with cams for moving the heaters backward, and springs which are adjustable for imparting a light or a heavy blow, substantially as described.

R. EIOKEMEYER.

Witnesses W. SOHWANHAUSSER, GEORGE NARR. 

